Rage
Episode 16 of Vincenzo begins with Vincenzo held up at gunpoint for the murder of CEO Oh. Unfortunately the officers received a message from Oh himself, claiming that Vincenzo abducted him. On the back of this, Vincenzo hits back and knocks the officers down, freeing himself from the handcuffs and fleeing. He heads straight downstairs and into Hong-Sik’s car. Meanwhile, Seok-Do bumps into the assailant up in the stairwell and the two go toe to toe. Seok-Do is knocked down but thankfully Soo-Nam is there to help him out. After fighting the man off, Seok-Do reconvenes with Cha-Young where they hold this man up for questioning and demand he reveal who hired him. Eventually they bring him to Vincenzo, who’s out by the docks. In the backseat of Seok-Do’s car, Vincenzo tortures the man and manages to find his base. As a way of thanking Seok-Do, Vincenzo grants him a wish…which is later revealed to being his model for the company. For now though it’s on to the base, where Vincenzo and co. grab the men and head to the police, clearing Vincenzo’s name. In fact, this immediately sees Park Do-Hun arrested for Oh’s murder. The officers arrive at Babel HQ to arrest him, which immediately sees Myung-Hee seething with anger. She’s not the only one though, and Joon-Woo finds himself struggling to compose himself too, eventually throwing items across the room. That afternoon, Cha-Young takes Gyeong-Ja out for a photoshoot, making sure Vincenzo and her get some photos taken together. After, Cha-Young allows Gyeong-Ja and Vincenzo to spend time together, with them both speaking in third person about how they feel. It’s a really touching moment and one that sees them grow closer together. In fact, when Vincenzo drops her off back at the hospital, she leans in and gives her son a big hug. Back at Babel, Joon-Woo and Myung-Hee talk, realizing that Vincenzo may well be using the Guillotine File to get some leverage. Joon-Woo intends to hit back, and heads up with Han-Seo to Geumga Plaza where he snaps a photo, claiming he’s capturing a slice of history. Back inside, the group celebrate Cheol-Wook’s big news that he’s expecting a child. Outside though, things take a turn for the worse. Myung-Hee stands with a strange remote controlled device that manages to trigger the gas inside the building. With sirens wailing, firemen rush inside the building and ask them all to evacuate on account of the gas leak. As firemen scramble inside, they realize that the gas pipe has been cut. Even worse, the remote controlled watch inside was about to detonate after 5 minutes. This would have killed everyone inside but for Vincenzo’s quick thinking and throwing it out the window. Back at Babel, Myung-Hee shows up with something urgent to report. She hands over a file which includes photos of Vincenzo’s Mother. They’ve found her. Well, Han-Seo shows up at Geumga Plaza and shows off his scar, courtesy of Joon-Woo. It turns out Han-Seo was actually the one who called the firemen and reported the gas leak. They begrudgingly thank him, eventually leading to the team allowing him to head in and alphabetically sort their papers. Baby steps and all that! Meanwhile, Myung-Hee swings by the prison and picks up Kang Ho-Chul, who’s recently been released. As we’re soon shown, this happens to be the man responsible for killing the informant before. As they talk, Joon-Woo shows up at the hospital, ready to use Vincenzo’s Mother against him. It’s a brief chat but one that certainly has a sinister edge to it. That night, Ho-Chul shows up posing as an orderly. He heads in to see Gyeong-Ja, choking her out. The heart monitor flatlines and Ho-Chul takes off. When Vincenzo arrives, he’s obviously upset but rage consumes him as he desperately tries to find those responsible. Checking the CCTV, he notices Ho-Chul heading downstairs. Cha-Young shares Vincenzo’s rage, telling him to go while she stays with his Mother for the time being. Armed with a silenced pistol, Vincenzo heads out and tracks down Ho-Chul, breaking into his apartment and forcing the man into submission. He punches Ho-Chul repeatedly, eventually sitting over him while he’s tied to a chair. Vincenzo breaks the news that the woman he killed was his Mother. Meanwhile, Myung-Hee calls out Han-Seo for meeting with Seung-Hyeok and questions their loyalty to one another. While Joon-Woo puts them in a difficult position, Vincenzo stalks Ho-Chul all the way to Joon-Woo’s retreat, dispatching guards left and right while he does. Ho-Chul heads straight into the living room, where he’s quickly shot and killed by Vincenzo. With blood staining Myung-Hee’s face, he holds his silenced gun up and prepares to fire.
The Episode Review
Vincenzo returns with a really great episode, one chock full of tension and drama throughout. The gas leak plan from Myung-Hee thankfully went awry, thanks in part to Han-Seo’s influence who’s well and truly on the side of Vincenzo and co. now. It was perhaps inevitable that Joon-Woo was going to kill Vincenzo’s Mother but it still came as quite a shock to see it play out this way. That obviously builds up to our dramatic crescendo at the end as everything looks balanced on a knife edge. And the episode doesn’t end with a preview for next week either! As we approach the final two weeks, Vincenzo leaves a lot of unanswered questions on the table with this unresolved Babel group debacle looking set to spill over in dramatic fashion for the rest of the season. I mentioned the pendulum before and here it looks like it’s swung over to the way of more serious drama again. There are pockets of humour too, but ultimately Vincenzo feels much more exciting and engaging when the show leans into its harder and grittier story. This is another great episode and one that definitely leaves the door open for next week.
